PRESTON, William Campbell, (son of Francis Preston; uncle of William Campbell Preston
Breckinridge),
a Senator from South Carolina; born in Philadelphia, Pa., on December 27, 1794;
studied under private tutors; attended Washington College (later Washington and Lee University),
Lexington, Va., and graduated from South Carolina College (later the University of South Carolina) at
Columbia in 1812; traveled and studied in Europe for several years; studied law at the University of
Edinburgh, Scotland; returned to the United States in 1819; admitted to the bar in Virginia in 1820
and practiced; moved to Columbia, S.C., in 1822; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1828 to the
Twenty-second Congress; member, State house of representatives 1828-1834; elected in 1833 as a
Nullifier to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Stephen D. Miller;
reelected as a Whig in 1837 and served from November 26, 1833, until his resignation on November
29, 1842; chairman, Committee on the Library (Twenty-seventh Congress), Committee on Military
Affairs (Twenty-seventh Congress); resumed the practice of law in Columbia, S.C.; president of
South Carolina College 1845-1851, when he resigned due to ill health; died in Columbia, S.C., on
May 22, 1860; interment in the Trinity Episcopal Churchyard, Columbia, S.C.